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Two new studies reveal the existence of an oxytocin–vasopressin-related signalling system inCaenorhabditis elegansthat modulates certain worm behaviours.
In the human brain, parts of the fusiform gyrus respond selectively to images of faces. Parviziet al. show that electrical perturbation of these areas causes the perception of faces to become distorted.
Acute activity-induced cleavage of neuroligin 1 acts as a local homeostatic mechanism to regulate structural and functional synaptic plasticity at individual synapses.
Dopamine release in the hippocampus has been shown to be essential for memory consolidation in rodents. Similarly, Chowdhuryet al. now demonstrate that, in humans, the persistence of episodic memory is enhanced following pharmacological increase in hippocampal dopamine.
Dopaminergic midbrain neurons that project to the striatum can also inhibit striatal output by releasing GABA, which is packaged into vesicles by the vesicular monoamine transmitter VMAT2.